moon and phase

One of the adventures of my childhood--I think I was ten, that Christmas--was choosing a special present for myself from Hamleys, the wonderful toyshop in London. This was via mail-order, years and years before the Internet; I can't remember where I got the idea that ordering something from Hamleys would be nifty-keen, or how I talked my parents into actually mailing a check to England, but somehow it happened.

I remember that my first choice was a stuffed Mr. Badger in his dressing gown. At first I was crushed when Hamleys wrote back to say that they were sold out of Mr. Badgers, and that I would have to choose a different toy of the same value. But as I went through the catalogue again, I noticed a handsome dark-haired, dark-eyed boy doll with a solemn face--so my second choice was a Gregor Dark Denims. Mom and Dad were even more enchanted with him than I was, I think; over the next couple of birthdays or Christmases, I got a blonde Sasha Gingham and a Baby Gregor Nightdress to keep Gregor company. The three of them sat patiently in my bedroom while I grew up, went away to college, went further away to graduate school, went further still to my first job, and then, in the strange way of the world, came (almost) home again. When Dad died and Mom moved off the farm into town, I brought Sasha, Gregor, and Baby to my house. When Mom died, I got them out of the closet where they had been waiting--still patiently--for me to grow up enough to appreciate them again.

All of which is a long way of introducing Caleb, who became my fourth Sasha last fall. I had thought for quite a while, in the back of my mind, that I would like to have a Caleb someday, only-I'm-not-a-doll-collector-of-course.

Well, yeah, I did get past that particular form of idiocy. And it only took thirty years.

Overalls by Bobondoll, and how cool is it that this MSD piece fits Sashas, with the legs rolled up? Sweater and shoes are Caleb's own.

The underwear is from DollHeart--these are the sets they have on eBay now. The sizing is way variable, though: these are both supposed to fit SD13 boys, but one set is snug on little Sejong, and the other set works okay on Kanbei. And they only did the curved pouch stitching--you know--on one side of the front panel of the briefs. Like, WTF????

My absolute favorite source for BJD briefs is Wendy at DollSecrets: http://www.dollsecrets.com She'll custom-make any color you want, for around $10 a pair, and hers are exactly like the Real Thing. Somewhere I have a picture of Lyon, my Hound, wearing some of hers . . . I'll add it to this entry while I'm thinking about it.

And aren't Sasha faces wonderful? As I get more Sashas, I'm starting to see how individual their expressions are; there's a nice range of subtleties even in the later ones, who have less hand-painting.

Oh, yeah, that wig they're sharing--it's the Volks Syo default wig, snagged on eBay last week for cheap. I kinda think it makes Kanbei look like an airheaded high-school jock, but that does go along with the underwear.

I guess I'm in the process of buying one Sasha and one Gregor in each hair color, though I didn't consciously set out to do this. I have a red-haired Gregor Cords, my original boy, and Caleb right now; I do want a blond Gregor sometime. Still need a brunette and a Cora to finish off the set of girls; I want the Cora in the pink striped dress, but I keep missing them on eBay.

I'm an underwear hound--I'll buy just about any set or piece I see. :-)